babbitt



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. D. BABBIT-T.

SUN AND VAPOR BATH.

No. 408,204. Patented Aug, 6, 1889.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR:

BY M m h ATTORNEYS.

UNITED grains ArnNT @rrrcn.

EDI/VIN D. BABBITT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SUN AND VAPOR BATH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,204, dated August 6, 1889. Application filed September 6, 1886. Renewed January 12, 1889. $erial No. 296,219- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN D. BABBITT, of the city,connty, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Sun and Vapor Bath, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a solar thermolume, and has for its object to provide a new and improved solar and heating bath or apparatus for subjecting the body to the action of the suns rays, steam, or other style of heat, or to the influence of electric light, for the purpose of curing various maladies and increasing physical and mental forces.

The invention consists in abox provided in its inclined front with a glass pane, on each side of which a reflector is held for reflecting lightrays through the glass pane into the box. Colored strips or plates of glass are placed on the glass pane for subjecting the body to the effects of different light'rays. A colored-glass plate is held above and in front of the head of the patient, so that the head only will be subjected to cool rays.

The invention also consists in stretching a wire mattress within the box for a reclining bath and suspending therefrom, at any point desired in its length, an iron plate provided with an opening to receive a steaming-pan, the said plate adapted to be heated by means of any ordinary heater placed under it; and, further, in making the wire couch portable to facilitate removal in the event a bath is deemed advisable in upright or sitting position.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of an inclined reclining-bath apparatus, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical section showing the attachn'lent of the heatingplate and water-receptacle to the wire mattress; Fig. 4,a perspective view of a bath apparatus, in which baths can be given in eithera reclining or sitting position; and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section thereof.

A is a box forming the hotair chamber A, made to incline toward the sun from rear to front and mounted upon casters, as shown in Fig. l, or constructed with a base parallel with the floor, as shown in Fig. 4.

In the form of bath illustrated in Fig. 1 uprights a a are projected from the top edge of the box A, upon either side, a shortdistance from its rear end, and extending upward with an inclination to the front connect with top pieces a a,which incline downward to an engagement with a short vertical front end piece b, completing the skeleton of the frame.

B is a wire mattress stretched from one end of the box A to the other over the hot-air chamberA, the portion within the inclined uprights a a to accommodate the body of the patient and the end extending beyond the head. The mattress B is made narrower than the said box, thereby leaving a space between their edges to insert a metal heating-plate b, which is usually suspended under the mattress by hooks b caught therein and attached to said heating-plate through eyes or openings in the corner thereof. In about the center of the heating-plate b an opening is provided for the insertion, when desired, of a steaming pan 0, and beneath the heating plate and pan a gas, oil, or other heating apparatus is adapted to be placed. As the heating-plate b is simply hooked onto the wire edge of the mattress, steam heat, dry heat, or both, may be had and applied under any portion of the patients body by simply moving the heating-plate, which extends nearly the length of the body, together with the heating apparatus, slightly up or down or under a special portion of the body covered by the said plate by moving the lamp or heating apparatus under the steamer c or plate 1).. The suspended plate thus attached to the wire mattress will in all cases conform thereto, even when unevenly depressed by the patient.

0 O are reflectors, of white metal or other reflecting surface, inserted in the top pieces a a, one upon each side, adapted to concentrate and throw a large amount of light into the interior of the apparatus through various colored-glass panes slid in the grooved top framed upon the patient reclining therein. In the vertical front end piece I), I cause a pane of glass 1) to be placed, generally red, to warm the feet. Into the grooved top frame (I, when it is necessary that the person should perspire,I slide a sheet of plain glass E to shut out the cold air. The grooved frame is also adapted to receive panes of various colored glass, which can be arranged in the grooves over the sheet of plain glass E to cover any portion of the body, as desired, to modify disease according to the color. A pane E of blue enameled glass is kept in position in that portion of the grooved frame d which extends outside the inclined supports a a of the frame to cool the brain of the patient.

Across the outer rear end of the bath-chamber, hinged to the uprights a a and extending partially downward thereon, is suspended a sheet of metal F, with a bright surface to throw additional light over the thorax. On the outside of this bright metal sheet F, near the lower edges, I provide sharp hooks M, upon which towels are caught to hang down around the neck of the patient to keep the hot air in.

H H are the side doors of the bath used to admit the patients, having a bright interior surface for reflecting light over the entire body. The instrument thus includes two large exterior reflectors O C and three interior ones, the two side doors H H, and the front metal sheet F, having a polished surface, by which means a great amount of luminous heat is thrown upon all parts of the body at once. This is vastly more refined and vitalizing than the ordinary dead-heat used for sweat-baths, and is most beneficial in producing cures in consumption, dropsy, rheumatism, scrofula, and general diseases of the blood and nerves. The scope of the bath includes artificial, dry heat, steam heat, sun

heat, and color heat.

During cloudy days or in the evenings I use electric light. The apparatus consists of an oblong structure, which is to cover the entire top of the bath, resting upon the top pieces a a, the reflectors C 0 being removed. The sides of this electric apparatus, the interior surfaces of which are composed of brilliant reflectors, converge as they go upward until they nearly meet and are joined by an elastic material, such as gutta percha. In this gutta-percha a slit is out large enough to receive a removable wire from a dynamo-machine, which wire connects with an electric lamp within. This slit will allow the lamp to be moved up .or down over the subject to the place where the greatest power is needed, and being elastic will close as fast as it is moved, so as to prevent the ingress of cold air. Colored sheets of glass are arranged over any part of the body in the same grooves that are used for sun-light, although the large sheet of glass E should be slipped out when electric light is used, so that all the heat and power can come directly to the body.

111 the form of bath shown in Fig.4 the box A is made parallel with the floor at its base, with its side edges beveled at the front end from the floor upward and back, to receive grooved front pieces K K, carrying a sheet of glass K, purposed to transmit the light to the inside of the box, the said front pieces and the glass, which extends nearly to the base, and a facing is, extending from the glass to the base, constituting the front or end presented to the light. Side reflectors J, generally made of polished metal, are attached to the grooved front pieces K, one on each side, by means of small projecting rods 71, inserted in said'front pieces.

L is a pane of colored glass slid in the grooves over the plain glass K, representing how a number of different colored panes may be inserted to accomplish-the purpose heretofore stated.

M is the pane of blue enameled glass to cool the brain. N is the foot-reflector, adapted to be supported at different angles as the position of the sun may require, and O O are doors, one on each side, which admit the patient to the interior of the bath.

The rear end of the bath, or the end opposite to that upon which the sun shines, is entirely open with the exception of a low partition 1, built up from the base, which forms a support for the projecting end or head of a movable wire couch R, the other end or.foot being provided with casters and abutting against the front casing 70. When a reclining bath is had in this form of bath, the same heating apparatus heretofore described is used as shown in Fig. 5. This form admits of the sitting bath as well as the reclining bath, as couch R can readily be taken out at any time and a chair substituted. An iron heater is placed under the chair, and a small perforated stool is provided for warming the feet, having a heating surface attached thereto. The top of the bath in this form is open, together with most of the rear end, as stated. A cross-piece S, however, connects the permanent sides of the bath at the top and forms a top support for the grooved front pieces K. The said cross-piece S is curvedout centrally to fit the back of the neck of the patient sitting within the bath, bringing his head outside and under the blue glass M in the front frame. Hooks t" are also screwed in the crosspiece, to which a steam-proof drapery is attached, enabling the person takingeither a reclining or sitting bath to exclude the cold air. This form of bath, while substantially the same as the other, is more convenient of ingress and egress to those who are lame, as almost the entire sides open as doors.

I will describe briefly the operation in the form of bath illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings: The bath is rolled to the window, or where the suns rays will shine upon the i11- clined glass front surface and reflectors. A door His then let down,and the patient takes a reclining position upon the mattress B, with his head outside the supports a a and under the blue enameled glass E, and his feet opposite the red glass pane D in the front end of the frame. The door is then closed and the towels attached to the hooks in the metal IIO sheet F placed around the neck. Thus all cold air is excluded from the bath. Colored glass is now slid in the grooves of the slanting frame (Z, the different colors over the various parts of the body, according to the location of or nature of the disease treated, the feet being kept Warm and glowing by the light and heat penetrating the red glass, and the head cool by the blue above it. If it is desirable to have artificial dry heat applied tov different portions of the back of the patient, the swinging plate 6, heated by an ordinary heater, is placed directly under the spot desired to be reached. If a moist heat is desired, the steaming-pan O is inserted in its opening in the plate I), and placed under the section to be treated With the heater beneath it. Thus the patients body may be subjected to a bath of dry heat alone or together with the sun color-bath, or a steam-bath alone, or together with the sun color-bath, or the sun color-bath alone with the same apparatus, the head all the while being kept cool and the brain soothed by the light reflected through the blue glass placed for that purpose.

My other form of bath is simply a slightlyditferent form of applying the same prineiples and forces.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A sun bath or box having an opening in the same admitting light, in combination With external reflectors for increasing or intensifying the amount thereof passing through said opening, as set forth.

2. A sun-bath box or case inclined upon the front and having tWo doors, a glass extending from top to bottom of the slope, the adj ustably-arranged glasses thereon, a reflector on each side of the glass and inclined toward the edges of said glass, and a grooved frame projecting upward carrying a blue pane, all substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with a bath-box, of a Wire mattress, having adjustably suspended therefrom a heating-plate apertured to receive a steaming-pan, operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. The combination, with a bath-box, of a detachable inclined wire couch extending out therefrom, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

ED WIN D. BABBITT.

\Vitnesses:

J. F. ACKER, J 1'., J I D.- GARFIELD. 

